Daily Lobo new mexico
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May 1, 2012
tuesday The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
UNM behind the curve on iTunes U technology by Avicra Luckey
avicraluckey@gmail.com
Officials at NMSU said they’ve been able to gain international attention while helping students learn and complete degrees by using a free program, while UNM has yet to do the same. Director of Media Productions at NMSU Jeanne Gleason said the platform NMSU has been able to do this with is iTunes University, a program that contains course material from universities all over the country, including Yale and Brown. She said students and lifelong learners can download e-books, voice lectures and videos from the site. But UNM has yet to create its own iTunes U page to share the University’s academic material with the world. Gleason said users can carry the material and view or listen to it on various Apple devices and personal computers using a free iTunes U app, and some of the most popular downloads include video lectures on HTML web-page development and mythology. She said NMSU received worldwide recognition for the number of downloads it has accrued since the pilot study, which began in 2006. “I think you could safely say we’ve had millions because we were one of the first ones, and a lot of people hold that page and keep coming back to it,” she said. Gleason said iTunes U does not
have the capacity to maintain grade sheets or host tests and quizzes like NMSU’s Blackboard or UNM’s WebCT, so the system is only used as a supplementary teaching tool. But she said the system allows thousands of people to simultaneously stream from it, which is not possible with most university servers. She said the program is split into two categories: information for the general public and a private section for exclusive use by universities and professors. Deputy Chief Information Officer and Acting Director of Classroom Technologies at UNM Moira Gerety said UNM signed a contract with Apple a year and a half ago and will offer content to the general public in August. “We have watched other universities and we said ‘We want to do this very deliberately, so that once we stand it up we know it’s as sustainable and viable … and we’re going to give it the care and feeding it deserves,’” she said. Gerety said the University has not offered iTunes U in the past due to concerns with intellectual property rights. She said the copyrights and property rights are unclear because content from iTunes U can be downloaded and used by anyone. Gerety said it is difficult for the University to navigate intellectual property rights because professors often include books, films and other media in classroom lectures. “We’re in that very hard part of
iTunes U right now where the legal office, the marketing office and the provost’s office are in the process of creating guidelines and release forms (for faculty),” she said. Gerety said the use of iTunes U would help the University organize the media already on UNM servers and increase usage space. Gerety said she is hopeful about the University’s future use of the software and believes it will allow the University to bring positive attention to the programs in which it excels. “It’s going to be a wonderful service that will increase UNM’s reputation and visibility in the greater community and get more knowledge out to the general public,” she said. “I think it’s great.” Gerety said content from KNME’s “New Mexico in Focus,” a news magazine show, will be part of the first content available on iTunes U. She said the site will feature lectures from distinguished public figures, lecturers and professors gathered by the University Committee for Academic Planning and other departments.
To download the iTunes U app: visit the iTunes store, click iTunes U on the subject menu and press the “Download iTunes U app” on the middle of the page.
Crisis center gets online chat tool
Courtesy photo This is the app interface for the program iTunes U. Books, lectures and videos are displayed in a “bookcase” on the user’s iPod, iPad or other Apple device. The program allows anyone from anywhere to download c ourse material from universities all over the world.
Honoring every body
by Barbara Gomez-Aguinaga iam@barbaragomez.com
The UNM Agora Crisis Center has added an Internet component to its varied support services. Agora Crisis Center is an organization that provides emotional support for people who are in need of help, such as people thinking about committing suicide. The center hosted a ceremony in the SUB on Monday to celebrate the release of an online instant messaging system that was added to the Crisis Chat Program as another way for people to seek help and advice. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics Report, suicide ranked as one of the top 10 causes of death in the United States in 2010. Agora allied with a network of centers from 20 states to create the Crisis Chat Program three years ago. It includes a help hotline and an outreach component that provides pamphlets and information about trauma and suicide prevention. The program creators added the online pilot component nine months ago, and representatives said that because it has been so effective it will be added to the program permanently. Public Relations Associate Director of Agora Crisis Center Jeremy Jaramillo said the program includes online services that will help prevent suicide in multiple demographics. He said 42 percent of people in the program’s online chat sessions have suicide-related problems, compared to 6 percent of people who call program representatives.
see Crisis page 3
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 116
issue 149
Dylan Smith / Daily Lobo The Rev. Thomas Pesaresi addresses an audience during a memorial at the Aquinas Newman Center Saturday. The service honored the anatomical donations of about 40 community members who gave their bodies to the UNM Medical School after death to help train future doctors, physical therapists, physicians assistants and other healthcare professionals.
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